I came across Whisk when it was mentioned in the Chicago edition of The Infatuation and was kind of a sucker for the name - I mean, how can a place called Whisk not be great for brunch? Although I did think it was a bit strange that the menu had more of a Mexican flare than an American comfort food, it was totally ok - it seems like Mexican breakfasts are becoming all the rage now anyways.
Deanna and I headed over to Whisk right at prime brunch time and we were immediately told that it was 1 1/2 hour wait. WTF? We decided to put our name down (or Diane as they spelled it) while we waited. Unfortunately it was raining that day, so no one really wanted to wait outside and there weren't a whole lot of other brunch places close by (except for a diner next door which I was actually totally prepared to go to if the wait was really 1 1/2 hours). We noticed that a lot of people started to leave, probably driven out by the rain and the wait. We told ourselves we would wait up to 30 mins and see where we were on the list. By the time 20 mins passed, they had blitzed through at least 10 names of people who weren't there. We were finally seated around 40 mins at a 4 top (poor logistics in my opinion). As I mentioned, the menu has a Mexican slant: Mexican scramble, breakfast burrito, chilaquiles, huevos rancheros but they also have "regular" brunch items like biscuits and gravy, veggie omelets, a LOT of pancake options, hash options and several benedict options. I was super torn but of course, I opted for the crab cake benedict ($13) because benedicts were only offered on the weekends. Deanna got the veggie croissant ($12), which turned out to be the star of the show.
The restaurant was very crowded and the wait for the food was a bit long. I know I keep telling myself that I should limit my crab cake intake to when I'm only in MD but there's just something about it that I can't say no to when I see it. This one looked fine at first glance. It was 2 spicy crab cakes served on English muffins, poached eggs and red pepper hollandaise sauce and a side of cheesy grits. Of course I instantly cut through the egg to test the runny-ness of the yolk. It was meh - overdone for me but it wasn't exactly a hard boiled egg, so not a total disaster. The crab cake itself was also ok - there was definitely filler but it paired nicely with the red pepper sauce - but I've definitely had better. My big problem was with the dish was strangely the English muffin. It was thin and hard and didn't have the soft nooks and crannies that I love from a Thomas' muffin. The grits were also good but definitely not as cheesy as I've had at other places. Another HUGE pet peeve I had was that their utensils sucked. The knife was one of the dullest knives I've ever encountered that it was practically impossible to cut through the muffin...maybe it was the knife and not the muffin that sucked? If I were judging this review on just my meal, I might have gone 2.5 folks because it was really meh.
However, Deanna's sandwich looked and tasted amazing. It was a beautiful large buttery toasted croissant with American cheese, spinach, tomatoes, cucumber, avocado and garlic aioli with 2 eggs inside the sandwich. Classic delicious breakfast croissant. The only thing it's missing is sprouts. I had one look at it and wished I had gotten the version with meat in it. It also came with a side of house potatoes that were fantastic - they tasted more like tater tots than roasted potatoes because they had a nice crunch on the outside.
Overall, this place was middle of the pack. It's cute, the menu is solid and it's in a great neighborhood (Ukrainian Village) but I guess I just ordered the wrong thing. Apparently they are pretty well known for their burgers, so it sounds like I should have gotten that or some kind of sandwich instead. I should mention that it's BYOB here, so lots of people brought full bottles of champagne to make mimosas, which was neat and fun to watch. Total bill: $21.29/pp with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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